Forms or mannequins that are models of the human body are well known in the art and are used to display clothing and other merchandise. Such forms and mannequins are often complete or partial human bodies and often are of life-sized proportions. xe2x80x9cFormsxe2x80x9d typically refers to human and/or animal shapes with or without heads, and without appendages or limbs. xe2x80x9cMannequinsxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cmanikinsxe2x80x9d typically refers to human and/or animal shapes with or without heads, and with some or all appendages. The terms xe2x80x9cformxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cmannequinxe2x80x9d are used interchangeably herein, and each term incorporates the other. Dressing mannequins can be difficult if limbs are not removable. Removable limbs should be both simple in construction and life-like in appearance. In addition, it is desirable that limbs can be placed in natural poses.
Examples of mannequin joint structures in the prior art include those described in Ikeda (U.S. Pat. No. 5,180,086); Day (U.S. Pat. No. 5,098,213); Schoenhut (U.S. Pat. No. 982,096); Abbat (U.S. Pat. No. 5,257,873); Stringer (U.S. Pat. No. 4,630,762); Pansiera (U.S. Pat. No. 4,958,643); Kotlarsky and Gelman (U.S. Pat. No. 5,443,188); Bruce (U.S. Pat. No. 3,934,804); Strover and Strover (U.S. Pat. No. 5,967,790); Luke (U.S. Pat. No. 4,186,518); Miller (U.S. Pat. No. 4,955,844); Fogarty et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,308,276); Unalp and Kelley (U.S. Pat. No. 5,318,469); Glovier (U.S. Pat. No. 5,318,471); Toy (U.S. Pat. No. 4,545,514); Wiley et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,018,977); Jiang (U.S. Pat. No. 5,265,779); Neuschatz (U.S. Pat. No. 4,075,782); Breiden (U.S. Pat. No. 4,466,800); De Porteous (U.S. Pat. No. 5,044,960); Richards (U.S. Pat. No. 5,152,692); and Richards (U.S. Pat. No. 5,259,765).
A typical joint structure for mannequins uses a ball and socket connection means wherein a ball portion formed on a first limb member fits in and moves against the interior surface of a socket portion formed on a second limb member. The ball and socket are held in contact with each other by a locking mechanism, or fastener. Fastening the ball and socket together results in friction between the exterior ball surface and the interior socket surface. This friction allows the limbs to be placed and held in multiple positions.
One common type of fastener for a ball and socket joint is an eyehook-spring fixture where the spring and the eyehook are located on opposite sides of a bolt. The eyehook passes through a slot on the ball and is looped around a pivot-pin that is screwed into the center portion of the ball perpendicular to the long axis of the limb. The spring is threaded onto a rod that is located in the limb above the socket. Threading the spring onto the rod forces the ball and socket together, creating the friction used to position the limbs. The use of this type of fastener also results in the appearance of a gap on the ball portion of the joint at the slot and also permits movement of the limb having the ball portion to pivot, relative to the limb with the socket, by allowing the bolt to move through the slot.
Drawbacks of these types of prior art joints include:
1. The entire limb is assembled in one step, which can be awkward.
2. An unnatural looking slot, or gap, on the ball section of these joints.
3. Poor anatomical shape of the limb.
The joint of this invention defines an improvement over the prior art in that the disclosed joint eliminates the unnatural gap on the ball section of the limb. Further, novel fastening means simplifies production and assembly of joint structures and the assembly of mannequins and forms.
In its most general form, this invention provides a mannequin having removable, positionable limb members attached thereto comprising a joint to join two of the limb members together. The joints of this invention comprise one or more assembly fixtures, located within or on a limb member to be joined, that contain elements for joining limb members. The assembly fixtures may contain elements of a locking mechanism, or fastener, and may contain other elements for joining members or creating friction or tension between limb members to be joined. For example, a socket assembly fixture is positioned fixedly in the socket portion of a first member to be joined and comprises a chamber containing a tension-producing member and one half of a locking mechanism. A ball assembly fixture is positioned in the ball portion of a second member to be joined to said first member and comprises a second half of a locking mechanism, and means for attaching the second half of the locking mechanism to the ball portion of the second member to be joined. A joint structure is formed when two attachable limb members are joined together using one or more assembly fixtures.
This invention also provides methods for assembling the different embodiments of the joints and mannequins of this invention.